Continuously expanding efforts in current-day communication technology, including satellite-based systems, require high performance signal transmission structures, such as mesh antennas, that may be deployable or non-deployable. Knit mesh materials have been used on high performance reflector designs and their continued use as reflector materials can be expected in the future. Unfortunately, mesh antenna structures suffer from a significant problem of high in-plane mechanical stiffness, which can manifest itself through a number of characteristics including difficulty in maintaining surface contour manufacturing tolerances, difficulty in maintaining tension in the surface resulting from thermoelastic effects, and distortion of structural members also resulting from theremoelastic effects of the mesh. Each of these effects can degrade antenna performance.
Current trends toward larger apertures and higher RF operational frequencies make stiffness a very significant parameter in antenna design. In addition, as the operating frequency increases, the mesh hole size must decrease in order to maintain RF performance. As mesh stiffness is inversely proportional to hole size, the technical challenge is to develop a mesh which satisfies both low stiffness and high RF reflectivity requirements.